Instagram and YouTube have until Valentine’s Day to remove sensitive #RussiaGate content, or else Moscow might block them

Under threat of being blocked, Russia’s federal censor is giving YouTube and Instagram until Valentine’s Day to remove 14 posts and seven videos showing oligarch Oleg Deripaska, Deputy Prime Minister Sergey Prikhodko, and a woman named Anastasia Vashukevich (better known as “Nastya Rybka”), who was present at their meeting abroad a yacht off the coast of Norway in August 2016.

A day after Alexey Navalny drew attention to Vashukevich’s photos and videos, Deripaska threatened to take the matter to court. On February 9, he filed a lawsuit in Ust-Labinsky (where his businesses happen to pay half their national tax debt). Instead of targeting Navalny, however, Deripaska’s lawsuit is against Vashukevich and her apparent spiritual and PR advisor: a man named Alexander Kirillov (who goes by the name “Alex Leslie”). Deripaska says they shared his image online without his permission.

On February 9, Roskomnadzor (Russia’s federal censor) ordered two news websites, Mediazona and Radio Svoboda to remove photographs published in their stories about Navalny’s investigation into Deripaska and Prikhodko.

On February 10, Roskomnadzor ordered Russian ISPs to start blocking hyperlinks to 14 photographs from Vashukevich’s Instagram account and several videos shared on her YouTube page. The agency also blacklisted Alexey Navalny’s investigative report published on YouTube (which uses several of Vashukevich’s images and videos).

Also on February 10, Vashukevich deleted from her Instagram page all her photos and videos of Deripaska and Prikhodko, except for one photo where she and Deripaska are relaxing together on his yacht. She deleted all photos showing Prikhodko.